I’ve cut my walks down to 4 miles or fewer with the early heat. I hope to get an early ride on Saturday but today I used Aurora

I went with 50-55 rpm as my Base Rate and sprinted 3 times at 60-63 rpm and once at 70-73 rpm plus a minute of standing-pedaling. A good 10 miles in 31 minutes

70s rpm turns out to be roughly 25 mph yet the article I read on HIIT wants me to hit 100 rpm during some sprints. Egad

At least the humidity broke though. Had I not eaten stupidly today would have been 46 miles. About mile 28 I knew it would not happen. Still it was a good day even for a short ride.

I avoided most hills and took on,y the Shelby Exit; I’m more than a little surprised at 1271 feet of Up.

Still in the Sprinting Gear.

Avoiding the heat in my old-age. I read an interesting HIIT article focusing on heart-rate ranges over one minute intervals governed by RPMs instead of Time. Since Aurora has an RPM window I gave it a try.

The article was clearly not written for old folks since it talked about 100 RPMs & I have topped out in the 70s at my best — which I believe is how AirBikes are designed. I aimed at stead rates of 50-54 and accelerated rates of 60-65. Before I have seen my rate after a sprint drop into the mid 40s so I kept an I on that. “Resting” above 50 RPM is tougher than I thought.

I’ll see if the heat will let me outside or not. Perhaps only Aurora thus week.

I’m still reluctant to switch out of the sprinting gear so I climbed a few hills and then Weary Leg sprinted at the Airport. Very low humidity today; a fine day for cycling.

I stacked-up the hills early since the loop around Titans Stadium has been hijacked by Fan Fair.

I’m not yet in-shape enough to push a late sprint into the 180s.

On the whole a good day out there.

So I used an exercise band because some Instagram post told me to & tweaked my knee. Two days of semi-rest and today I tested it out on Aurora. About 7 miles in a little over 20 minutes. I really ought to ride Aurora more anyway. Knee feels fine.

She’s a good AirBike. Gives wonderful resistance like you’re riding only uphill into the wind.

Straight pedaling with no sprinting. I’ll ease back into it.

I figured I’d get an early enough start around Titans Stadium to suffer no traffic issues but alas someone in a Jeep took offense at how I take corners (I’m riding a Fixie) and did her best to pin me to the curb. I’m too nimble to be pinned tho.

After 16 miles circling the stadium I lit out for the Airport and actually rode well. The leg-wobble is still there but I notice it less I guess. Somehow on lap 5 I noticed the traveling Eastern Box Tortoise heading from the asphalt into the grass. How I missed that before I have no idea.

I knew at mile 18 I was going for the full 46; putting the weirdly sweat-tasting Liquid IV super-hydration powder into my lone bidón turns out to have been a smart idea. I started off riding in the low 80s & finished in the low 90s.

Not many of us out there

That tortoise is my Spirit Animal

My 16-teeth wheel caught some of the infernal glass-shards on Davidson & my Bike Store on Shelby was closed* so I simple did what all Fixie riders do: I switched to another wheel.

My Sprinting wheel has 14 teeth & has always been a joy to ride. Over the course of a regular season I tend to alternate the wheels either for specific Sprinting Days or for specific Climbing Days. At some point though I simply try to ride every terrain in the Sprinting Gear just to prove I can.

Today turned out to be windy, but it was still quite enjoyable a ride.

Has I left an hour earlier I would have completed the 46 miles I had intended; legs felt great even up the hills.

I tried to take an old route home but there was a halted freight-train on the tracks at Rosebank so I took the old Rain Detour home.

There is some kind of Pre-loading going on in Titan’s Stadium so often the loop there was literally Hit Or Miss:

Once you’ve completed a few laps the constant truck-tenders recognize you & ease you through the knots.

*Don’t get me started on how much I miss fixing my own punctures. My hands can no longer break-down the wheel to component parts

I had a flat on my Climbing Wheel so I just switched it out. All the work on Hector was making it mandatory anyway. Since I fell-in with many riding the Tour de Nashville — I lost count of how many I passed — the switch turned out to be a good deal. Two hills climbed only for 1085 feet of Up. The wind was rather punishing but I suspect I’ll get my firm back over time.

Trying out the Hero 10 too.

In that final clump of bikes there are 4 e-bikes

On the whole a good first effort.

There was a Truck Rally at Me Sad Field which closed my regular loop to Car Traffic but in the end I was too irked by the awkward placement of the barriers & the increased traffic on other roads so I headed off over the bridge to do the bottom half of the old Saturday route. The grazing goats are still there but there was so much new construction that I hardly recognized the river-path.

The wind was mild and I left early enough that the humidity was low.

The leg held up well and although I was passed 4 times at the Airport, I was carrying at the time over 30 miles. I passed something like 18; it was a good day.

Hopefully the first of many

I eked 1456 feet of Up from 47 miles on one of the old Wednesday Routes. Nashville has an In-Between season when it’s only about 65° and not too windy with nearly no humidity nor pollen. it lasts about a week and today I rode it it for my longest ride so far this year. To make this even better there wasn’t an e-bike out there today that I failed to pass.

The leg never yelled at me and hell 15 mph well even in the wind. I’m pedaling better & smarter now because I must; I’m betting my old speed will return eventually.

I had thoughts of turning toward some Airport Sprints but in the end I chose to stay in the trees to hide from the wind.